Tag Archives: Teaching YL

A simple and adaptable communicative activity.

A few years ago I saw my good friend and fellow teacher, Ben Herbert, share this idea at at the Annual Young Ones Conference for teachers of Young Learners at International House Brno.

Basically it’s an info gap. But a really super simple tweak to make it more effective and motivate learners to want to do it.

The basic template (you can find a copy to download here) is a table that learners fill in themselves. It can be used for almost ANY language point.

For example, a few months ago I used the template to practice “Do you have a………in your bedroom?“. Yesterday, with a class of 9-11 year olds we used it to ask about what they like doing in their free time “Do you………in your free time?”

It’s great for summer camp/school as there is virtually no prep (in fact you don’t even need to print out the template, you could get the learners to draw a table on scrap paper) and so versatile. Brilliant for busy summer schedules. AND communicative 😀 win win!

Step one

I had some lines drawn up on the board similar to the worksheet and elicited things that people do in their free time. These were written in the left had column.

As below, I wrote them exactly as the learners called them out. e.g. if they called out ‘TV’, I simply wrote TV. But if they called out ‘read comics’, then I wrote read comics.

Step two

I then handed out the worksheet (see above to download a template) and asked students to write as many free time activities as they could think of. I encouraged them to choose their own and highlighted they don’t need to be the same as mine or the person next to them. If anyone needed help with a word or spelling, I wrote it on the board in case anyone else in the class also wanted to use that activity.

Once a few students had a full sheet, I asked them all to stop and reassured the others it didn’t matter if they didn’t have a complete sheet, as long as they had some.

Step three

I then directed the learners back to the board (I had my learners sitting on chairs in a horseshoe shape near the board with nothing but the paper and a pen, but this isn’t necessary).

I wrote my name in the first column and asked them to guess if I liked doing those activities. If they said yes I put a tick in the in the first column under my name and if they said no, a cross. I made it obvious I wasn’t going to tell them the answer yet. It was just a guess.

I then wrote one of the students names in the next column and told the class my guesses for the student – pointing out that he shouldn’t tell me the answer yet.

Step four

I asked the learners to write names of other students int he class in each of the boxes in the top row. I monitored to make sure they were writing in the right place.

Once a handful of people had finished I asked them to stop and again reassured them it didn’t matter if they hadn’t finished, as long as they had at least a few names.

Step five

I gave the learners a time limit to fill in their guesses with ticks and crosses and monitored to check they were in the right columns.

Step six

I redirected the class back to the board and asked the class to check their guesses about me and see if they were right. I elicited full sentences e.g. Do you read comics in your free time? and made sure to drill and board any sentences or vocabulary they had difficulty with. I also modelled and boarded Yes, I do. No, I don’t.

As I did this, I demonstrated how to put my answer in the right hand side column under my name. Once this was done I told them how many guesses they had right.

I then did the same for the student example and highlighted the things we had in common.

Step seven

I did one last drill of some questions using a couple of the learners chosen activities as examples, and then CCQs to check they knew what they had to do before setting them off to walk around the room and check to see if their guesses were correct. It was class of boys and they gave each other high fives each time they got a guess correct. They were fully engaged and using only English, even to high five. best of all, as they really enjoyed the activity and completed it successfully, it really boosted their confidence. They were really proud to have used only English for such a long time as well as complete mini exchanges with each other. I also encouraged them as I was monitoring to ask further questions if they wanted to e.g. “I play football too, who do you play for?” and boarded some of the phrases.

Step eight

We sat in a circle and talked about how many guesses we got correct, which answers were surprising, and which people had similar interests to us.

There are loads of possible follow ups. Writing a reports, drawing some graphs of pie charts, making a poster, giving a talk about what they learnt etc. I hope your learners like it too.

There’s nothing I love more than a simple activity that is versatile, and requires no fuss, no photocopying. Just a marker and a whiteboard or flip chart etc and away you go. The possibilities are endless with this one.

If possible, have lots of bright colours and some toys, small tables and chairs, small scissors, big markers. And remember, nothing dangerous. They are super quick on their feet.

Think about how you will use the classroom space. If possible put their work on the wall. They love to see it displayed and makes the space their own. It’s a good idea to have certain places (as well as routines) for certain activities e.g. a storytelling corner. It’s a non-verbal way of letting them know what is coming next and what is expected from them.

The Teacher

Ready and willing to nurture a whole range of needs, not just linguistic, a MUST.

Patient

Creative

Energetic

Organised

Quick thinking!

A VYL teacher needs to be super talented indeed, but above all they need to be flexible and have an affinity with young children (or at least like them! Don’t laugh, I’ve met a VYL teacher who didn’t like children. Her lessons were well planned and logically staged etc but classroom management was impossible – they sussed her out immediately). They are intuitive little things. They can sense fear and whether or not you genuinely like them. They also seem to know when you are unorganised and delight in taking advantage of this and why not? when their number 1 goal in life is to enjoy themselves.

Materials and Activities

Before we get into the ideas, don’t forget some rules of thumb.

Set up the activitiesclearly and have all your materials ready to go. Turn your back for a moment to get your flashcards and you’ll lose them. Give clear simple instructions and demo if possible. If you do leave your materials on the other side of the room – don’t panic! Just give them something to do so there is no waiting time e.g. get them to close their eyes and count to ten’

Recognition before production. Give them plenty of opportunity to hear the word and recognise the word before they say it. When they are ready, saying it in a song or chanting with the group gives them the opportunity to experiment with the sounds.

Stirrers vs settlers. What this means is don’t have the whole lesson sitting on the floor (they’ll get fidgety and lose interest) or the whole lesson running around (They’ll get over excited and impossible to calm down and control). It just won’t work. Think about not only using the classroom space well but also their energy. Keeping them calm but engaged keeps them focussed.

Repetition, repetition, repetition BUT don’t forget to mix things up and move from activity to activity quickly and smoothly. Have whole lots of tricks up your sleeve. Their attention span matches their size and just because they loved a particular game last week doesn’t mean they’ll dig it this week. Be prepared to be flexible and don’t get caught fighting a losing battle. Keep activities short, focussed, fun.

Think about why you are doing each activity and what they need to be able to do in order to complete it. Don’t forget that language isn’t the only limitation. Pair work ? Forget it, try to make each child feel they are working with you. Them and you. They don’t generally cooperate well together and are sometimes, but not normally, competative. A race to see who can line up first won’t go so well if they don’t care what their team mates are doing and don’t care if they are first or not. Some team games will work, but keep their developmental needs in mind. Give lots of individual praise.

FLASHCARDS

Bright, easily recognisable flashcards (It’s a good idea to have them uniform: same size, same type, same coloured backing etc. VYL tend to make their own rules about what they see and may think if one is a different shape or size it’s for a reason). Making up actions for the corresponding flashcards is also a good way to help them remember the vocabulary and make it their own.

What to do with them?

There are hundreds (maybe more) flashcard activities. Here are a few to get you started.

Presenting the language

Work with what they already know. Hold up the flashcard and talk about it. Ask easy questions you know they can answer and HELP them.

e.g. Look! A monkey! Monkey!. What colour is the monkey? Is it brown? Yes. How many legs has the Monkey got? Let’s count. 1,2. MONKEY.

Find the Card

It’s good to have a game where there are no losers and children aren’t afraid to try. Here is a VLY version of pelmanism.

If possible, teach some actions for the flashcards.

As you place each flashcard on the floor (face down) say each word clearly and (if applicable) do the action and encourage the children to join.

Count to 5 (the children should join in) and as you do so move the flashcards around so they won’t be able to remember where each one is.

Show the children how to sit up nicely and put up their hands.

Choose a child who is sitting nicely and say ‘Where is the monkey?’ Then do the action.

As each child turns a card over encourage the rest of the group to clap if they find the monkey.

If the child doesn’t find the monkey say ‘No, sorry, that’s not the Monkey, that’s the tiger’

Repeat

Sometimes the children can be shy to join in other ‘finding’ games as they can’t remember the word or recognise what you are saying making them anxious. This takes the pressure of and makes it a ‘finding’ game as opposed to a language game. The bonus is they get to hear the language over and over again.

You could go on to play this with the cards facing upwards when they are more comfortable with the language.

Once the child hears ‘stop’ they must run back to the team and we all count the pictures together.

What is it?

For the same reasons as the find the flashcard game, this game is a game of chance. An opportunity for the children to say any words they know. This is good when they are not yet confident with the language.

Shuffle the cards

Encourage the children to say stop

Say (shrugging shoulders) what is it?

Don’t show the card or give any clues. Hold the card close to your chest and shrug.

Encourage the children to hold up their hands and choose each child to say a word or if it’s a smaller less rowdy group allow them to call the words out.

The idea is they will call out what they know – not that they are ‘proving’ they know the word to match your card.

If they need help start listing some of the words ‘monkey, tiger, elephant, snake…’

Children can take it in turns to be the teacher (holding the cards)

Of course there are many other ways to play this such as giving a quick glimpse of the flashcard or a slow reveal, but I like to give them the chance to say as many words as possible rather than only the word which corresponds to the flashcard, although, later as they are more confident it can be confidence boosting for them to ‘prove’ to you that they know and understand the words.

What is this? What is this? (hold out arms shrugging and point it flashcard)

Is it a…..(pause for a moment to scratch your head like your thinking and then say a word from the lexical set you’re using) monkey?

Is it a monkey? (mime monkey)

Look at children waiting for response, indicate thumbs up and thumbs down for those who are too shy to join in with the yes or no.

If it is a monkey children sing

Yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes (nod and give the thumbs up)

If it isn’t a monkey

No, no, no. No, no, no. (shake head and thumbs down)

Repeat process

The old favourite ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ is a great song with Actions. I like to mix things up a bit by singing it the first time really slowly then repeating it getting faster each time. I also like to sing the last ‘Knees and Toes’ of the song in a really deep voice as the kids love experimenting with their voice. Or, you can skip out words like in this wiggles video.

I also like to ‘act out’ the songs. For example I love ‘Five little ducks’ and ‘Five Little Monkeys’. First I teach the songs with sitting down actions. Once they are familiar with the songs it’s fun to get the kids to act them out. This also helps them with meaning.

Use songs and chants for paper based activities such as colour dictation.

Set up the task and give first instruction e.g. ‘Colour the ball blue’ and demo

Start singing the following colours song from Cookie and Friends A to the tune of ten green bottles (while monitoring and helping as necessary)

Red, Pink, Yellow. Purple, Green or blue?

Red, Pink, Yellow. Purple, Greenor blue?

What’s your favourite colour, please tell me do, is it

Red, Pink, Yellow. Purple, Green or blue?

Repeat the song if necessary. Once you can see that a few children have finished call out

5 4 3 2 1 STOP!

Put your hands on your head and tell the children ‘hands on head’.

Walk around and take away the blue marker/ pencil/ crayon.

Repeat process with new colour and be firm to make them stop with the blue during the second colour.

By the time you get to the 3rd colour they get it.

Give them time at the end to ‘finish’. They next time they ‘play’ this they won’t be anxious if they know there will be time at the end for ‘finishing’.

STORIES

We’ve already discussed the virtues of stories, but what to do with them? Don’t be afraid to repeat them over and over. Studies have shown that children, although they get bored at some point, enjoy the stories more after they pass this. It’s the reminsicence and the known. We already mentioned having a story corner. How about a storytime chant? The first time you read a story is a chance for them to listen. On consequent readings encourage the children to join in with actions, words phrases. Get them to act out the story. AND don’t forget to choose books which are really visual in nature (or even tactile) i.e. limited text and with lots of big colourful pictures. Story cards are also great (like those used in many VYL coursebooks). If the text is too complicated or abstract, grade it and included some repetition and or noises. e.g. no becomes ‘no, no, no, no’ complete with head shaking and clicking noises with the tongue when someone is walking etc.

LESSON STRUCTURE

There’s more than one was to skin a cat, so to speak, but here is one example of a very basic lesson structure for VYL (although of course there would be many mini stages)

I think I could go on forever listing games and ideas, but my blog was initially intended to be for the people by the people (before I started my procrastination project), so I’m handing it over to you and putting a call out for people to submit their favourite VYL activity. In the meantime, I think it’s about time I prepared that workshop!